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Evolution   of   Education 
Annual    r^ddrsss   before   the 
Nevad^i    State   University, 
Reno,    June   3,    1897 

By 


Irving  Murray   Scott 


||^0litti0n  of  ^Anc^iion^ 


Bnnual  B^^re00 

Before  the  Nevada  State 
University,  Reno,  Nevada, 
Thursday,    June    3,   1897. 


m 
Irving  ni>-  Scott. 


"^x^olntion  0f  %A\xc^tion. 


Bnnual  Bbbrees 

Before  the  Nevada  State 
University,  Reno,  Nevada, 
Thursday,    June    3,    1897. 


36^ 

flrvtnG  riD,  Scott 


THK  HICKS-JUDD  CO., 

PRINTKRS,  PUBLI8HKRS,  BOOKBINDERS, 

IS  FIRST  ST.,  S.  F.,  CAL. 


37  ieH  4  cL 


EVOLUTION  OF   EDUCATION. 


Mr.  President,  Messrs.  Regents, 

Ladies   and   Gentlemen: 
The    founders    and    promoters    of    the    Univer- 
sity of  Nevada  are  well  deserving  of  the  highest 
honor  and  praise  for  their   efficient   efforts    in    the 
noble  cause  of  education.     "  'Tis   education    forms 
the   common   mind;    just  as  the  twig  is   bent,  the 
tree's   inclined."     Education   is    largely   the   motor 
of    progress    and    civilization.      Its    function   is    to 
refine    and    ennoble    all    within   its    scope.     It   re- 
dounds to  the   honor  of  the  State.     It  is  the  bul- 
wark   of    civil    liberty.     Not    only    is    it    of    the 
greatest   utility  in    all   the   various    affairs   of  life, 
'  but,  as  Cicero  eloquently  says :    "  It  is  the  food  of 
r  youth ;    the  delight  of  old  age ;    the  ornament  of 
=  prosperity;  the  refuge  and  comfort  of  adversity;   a 
\  delight  at  home,  and  no  hindrance   abroad;    it   is 
■  a  companion   by  night,  and  in  travel,  and  in  the 
country." 

The  beautiful  and  inviting  site  of  this  Univer- 
sity, surrounded  by  extensive  and  fertile  valley 
lands,  with  majestic  mountains  not  far  remote, 
rich  in  minerals  and  the  precious  metals,  the 
granite-filtered  water,  pure  as  that  from  the  Cas- 
talian  fount,  and  the  air  of  Elysian  purity — all 
conspire  in  assuring  glorious  success  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Nevada  from  the  present  on  to  the 
most   distant    future.     Among   the   many   valuable 


features  of  the  University,  I  would  especially  com- 
mend that  of  its  open  doors  to  the  free  access  of 
the  fair  sex  as  well  as  to  the  more  robust. 
Recognition  of  the  equality  of  the  sexes  is  an 
evolution  from  the  barbaric  state  of  our  race  to 
that    of  the    civilized. 

M}'   theme    for    the    present    occasion   is 

EVOLUTION    OF    EDUCATION. 

Nature  in  her  works  records  progress  in 
characters  not  to  be  misunderstood.  Thus  the 
record  reads :  Nature  evolved  from  elements  the 
primary  or  azoic  rocks  ;  from  these  by  mechanical 
and  chemical  action  she  evolved  soil ;  from  this 
she  evolved  vegetation ;  and  from  it  she  evolved 
animal  life  in  its  various  forms  from  the  mollusk 
up  to  man.  The  matter  that  pre-existed  as  ele- 
ments has  by  successive  steps  been  transformed 
into  animal  substance.  Nature  precludes  the  pos- 
sibility of  either  animals  or  vegetables  subsisting 
on  elements;  nor  ma}'  the  animal  subsist  upon 
minerals.  Vital  force,  as  such,  is  non-existent  till 
the  vegetable  is  evolved  for  its  action.  "  Life," 
says  Professor  Dana,  "  commenced  among  plants 
in  seaweeds,  and  it  ended  in  palms,  oaks,  elms, 
the  orange,  rose,  etc.  It  commenced  among  ani- 
mals in  mollusks  standing  on  a  stem  like  a 
plant ;  it  ended  in  man.  There  were  higher  and 
lower  species  created  through  all  ages,  but  the 
successions  were  still  in  their  general  range  of 
higher  and   higher  grade.     With  every  new  fauna 


and  flora  in  the  passing  periods  there  was  a  fuller 
and  higher  exhibition  of  the  kingdoms  of  life.'' 

On  the  subject  of  the  evolution  of  life,  Pro- 
fessor Joseph  Le  Conte,  enjoying  the  van  of  the 
world's  ablest  scientists,  says:  "It  (life)  must 
have  come  somewhat  suddenly,  but  not,  therefore, 
by  other  than  a  natural  process ;  for  the  process 
takes  place  dail}^  and  under  our  eyes.  When  the 
necessary  conditions — sunlight,  chlorophyl  and 
living  protoplasm — are  present,  light  and  chemism 
change  at  once  into  life  force,  and  mineral  matter 
into  living  matter." 

Aristotle,  probably  the  ablest  of  the  Grecian 
metaphysicists,  held  that  "  plants  have  soul  with- 
out consciousness;  that  all  animals  have  soul — 
body  and  mind  in  them  being  inseparable;  that 
man  has  soul — intellect  passive  and  intellect  active; 
that  his  intellect  passive  and  his  body  are  insepar- 
able ;  but  that  his  intellect  active  is  pure  form — 
cognition  of  the  highest  principles,  existing  as  an 
entity  distinct,  detached  from  matter;  that  it  is 
the  prime  mover  of  all — an  immortal,  self-sub- 
sisting substance,  the  essence  of  deity." 

This  speculation  of  Aristotle  respecting  the 
soul — the  intellect  active^  as  he  terms  it,  is  adopted 
by  some  authors  of  intellectual  philosophy,  and  is 
a  tenet  of  religious  faith  with  a  vast  number  of 
the  human   family. 

"  But  of  mind,  apart  from  the  body,"  says 
Professor  Bain,  "  we  have  no  direct  experience, 
and   absolutely   no    knowledge.     *     *     *     We   are 


not  permitted  to  see  a  mind  acting  apart  from  its 
material  companion.  *  *  *  We  have  every 
reason  for  believing  that  there  is  an  unbroken 
material  succession,  side  by  side  with  all  our 
mental  processes.  From  the  ingress  of  a  sensa- 
tion to  outgoing  responses  in  action,  the  mental 
succession  is  not  for  an  instant  dissevered  from 
physical    succession." 

"Whatever,"  says  Dr.  Draper,  "is  not  founded 
on  a  material  substratum  is  necessarily  a  castle 
in  the  air.  Old-school  philosophers  have  sailed 
upon  a  shoreless  sea  from  which  the  fog  never 
lifts.  '•■•  '•■•  '■'^-  God  ever  materializes.  =s:  *  * 
No  nobler  conception  can  be  had  of  the  Great 
Author  of  the  wonderful  forms  around  us  than 
to  regard  them  all,  the  vegetable  and  animal, 
the  living  and  lifeless,  the  earth  and  the  stars, 
and  the  numberless  worlds  that  are  beyond  our 
vision,  as  ///<?  offspring  of  ONE  PRIMITIVE  IDEA 
and    the    consequences   of    ONE    PRIMORDIAL    LAW.'* 

Whether  mind  has  been  evolved  by  natural 
law  operating  upon  matter,  or  is  a  direct  emana- 
tion of  divine  fiat,  seems  a  problem  answered  by 
conjecture  rather  than  absolute  demonstration. 
"The  mind,"  says  Cicero,  "knows  not  what  the 
mind  is."  It  is  something,  however,  which  per- 
ceives, reflects,  remembers,  believes,  imagines,  reas- 
ons and  wills;  is  susceptible  of  education,  and  by 
education  of  progress,  onward,  upward,  excelsior, 
and  in  its  fullest  development  in  man,  seems,  in 
our  conception,  the  nearest  approximate  to  divinity. 


It  is  endowed  witH  the  faculties  of  perception, 
consciousness,  original  suggestion,  abstraction, 
memory,  reason,  imagination,  taste,  conscience, 
will,  judgment,  instinct  and  bias.  It  conceives, 
directs  and  effects  its  purposes  by  its  own  in- 
herent  powers    and   the    aid    of  subordinates. 

Man  thus  endowed  has  by  persevering  effort 
determined  not  a  few  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and 
learned  to  read  her  records  written  by  her  own 
hand  in  the  strata  of  the  earth  and  in  the 
heavens.  The  history  of  man  runs  not  far  back 
before   merging   into   myth. 

Egyptian  hieroglyphics,  among  other  things, 
record  the  use  of  the  plough  in  the  valley  of  the 
Nile  five  thousand  years  ago.  Computation  from 
Jewish'  data  indicates  that  nearly  six  thousand 
years  have  elapsed  since  the  occurrence  of  man's 
advent  upon  the  earth.  In  Table  Mountain, 
Calaveras  County,  California,  a  human  skull 
cemented  with  gravel,  and  the  remains  of  a  mas- 
todon, have  been  found  in  the  gravel  bed  of  an 
ancient  river,  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  below 
the  surface  of  the  mountain — found  under  five 
successive  lava  beds.  These  remains  of  man  and 
mastodon  were  thus  entombed  before  the  lava 
peaks  of  the  Sierras  were  formed.  "  England," 
says  Gunning  in  his  "  Life  History  of  Our 
Planet,"  **  has  passed  through  a  triple  change 
of  climate  and  fauna  and  physical  geography 
since  Kent's  cave  was  a  den  of  hyenas  and  cave 
bears,     which     dragged     into    their    lair    the    dead 


8 

reiudeer  and  rhinoceros  and  mammoth.  The  hun- 
dred thousand  years,  or  more,  recorded  in  the 
floor  of  stalagmite  are  a  time-scale  none  too  long 
for  the  measurement  of  changes  so  vast.  But 
man  was  already  in  England — a  troglodyte  housed 
with  hyenas  and  bears.  His  crude  implements  of 
flint  are  strewn  in  profusion  through  the  same 
cave-earth  that  holds  the  remains  of  the  extinct 
fauna." 

These  implements,  conferring  upon  man  the 
appellation  of  a  "  tool-using  animal,"  belong  to  the 
rough-stone  age,  or  paleolithic,  and  are  probably 
the  oldest  of  man's  works  thus  far  discovered.  In 
the  same  cave,  in  a  superimposed  layer  of  cave 
earth,  are  found  more  highly  finished  implements 
belonging  to  the  smooth-stone  age,  or  neolithic, 
antedating  historic  record  by  untold  ages.  In  a 
still  higher  stratum  of  cave  earth  are  found  iron 
spearheads  and  nails,  and  daggers,  and  amber 
beads,  and  finger  rings,  and  armlets,  and  brace- 
lets of  bronze,  and  the  ivory  boss  of  a  Roman 
sword,  and  silver  coins  of  Trajan.  The  flint 
implements,  consisting  of  knives,  arrowheads  and 
spearheads,  hitherto  referred  to,  show  that  when 
man  first  dwelt  in  Kent's  cave  he  was  cognizant 
of  the  first  law  of  nature,  that  of  self-preservation 
—  self-defense  and  self  sustenance  by  warfare. 
That  he  lived,  as  Mr.  Gunning  assumes  in  his 
"Life  History  of  Our  Planet,"  in  the  cave  as  a 
companion  of  liycnas,  cave  bears,  lions,  and  mas- 
todons, is  hardly  admissible;  but    that    a    company 


of  men  killed  and  brought  these  animals  into  the 
cave  for  food,  and  other  purposes,  seems  entirely 
probable:  the  cave  was  man's  castle,  the  store- 
house of  his  wealth.  These  evidences  of  man's 
sojourn  on  earth  show  that,  beginning  in  the 
paleolithic  age,  and,  as  it  would  appear,  in  an 
interglacial  period,  he  passed  up  through  the  neo- 
lithic, bronze  and  iron  ages,  becoming  more  and 
more   skillful   in    each    successive    age. 

In  the  Magdelaine  cave  in  France  are  found, 
among  other  things,  bone  and  ivory  implements 
of  utility,  as  needles,  combs,  etc.,  and  a  paleo- 
lithic carving  of  the  mastodon  long  since  extinct, 
but  with  which  it  seems  highly  probable  the 
artist   was    a   cotemporary. 

Geological  exploration  in  the  valley  of  the 
Nile  discloses  pottery,  estimated,  from  the  data 
furnished  by  the  superimposed  strata,  to  be  thir- 
teen thousand  years  old — nine  thousand  years 
older  than  the  oldest  pyramid  of  Egypt.  A 
comparison  of  this  rude  pottery  with  the  Egyp- 
tian pyramids,  sphinxes,  obelisks,  seeming  the 
work  of  superhuman  hands,  furnishes  marked 
degrees  on  the  scale  of  the  Evolution  of  Educa- 
tion in  that  country,  embracing  a  period  of  a 
hundred   centuries    and   upward. 

At  an  early  age  of  our  race  man  perceived 
himself  environed  by  energies  superior  to  his 
own,  some  of  which  afforded  him  pleasure  and 
others  pain;  the  former  he  denominated  good  and 
the  latter  evil.     He   conceived  these  powers,  exist- 


lO 

iiig  iu  material  substances,  to  be  possessed  of 
^vill — intelligence  of  the  nature  of  his  own.  He 
invoked  the  assistance  of  the  good,  and  to  gain 
their  favor  made  offerings  to  them  of  frankin- 
cense and  whatever  is  delightful  to  the  senses. 
To  the  evil  he  sacrificed  blood,  conceiving,  as 
Porph3'r3'  says,  that  "  demons  are  fond  of  blood, 
humidity,  stench."  Summer  teemed  with  abund- 
ance; winter  brought  destruction,  scarcity  and 
misery. 

The  stars  in  the  ascendant  during  these  re- 
spective seasons  were  supposed  to  cause  the 
different  results  set  forth.  The  sun  was  held  to 
be  king  god,  the  moon  his  queen  goddess,  and 
the  stars  to  be  possessed  of  supernatural  powers 
— star  gods,  authors  of  good  and  evil,  but  sub- 
ject  to   the    orders    of  the    sun    god. 

Dupuis,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
French  savants,  determines,  from  incontestable 
astronomical  data,  that  star  worship,  Sabianism, 
obtained  in  Egypt  more  than  fifteen  thousand 
years  ago — determines  that  Egyptians  at  that 
epoch  had  divided  the  Zodiac  into  twelve  con- 
stellations or  signs,  and  ascribed  divine  powers 
to   them. 

"The  ancients,"  says  Maimonides,  "directing 
all  their  attention  to  agriculture,  gave  to  the 
stars  names  derived  from  their  occupation  during 
the    3'ear." 

"  Thus  the  Egyptian  of  Thebes,"  says  Volney, 
"named    stars    of    inundation,    or    aquarms^    those 


II 


under  whicli  the  Nile  began  to  overflow;  stars  of 
the  ox  or  bull,  those  under  which  he  began 
to  plough;  stars  of  the  lion,  those  under  which 
that  animal,  driven  from  the  desert  by  thirst, 
appeared  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile;  stars  of  the 
sheaf,  or  of  the  Harvest  Virgin,  those  of  the 
reaping  season;  stars  of  the  lamb,  stars  of  the 
kids,  those  under  which  those  precious  animals 
were  brought  forth."  Not  only  did  the  Egyptians 
adore  the  constellations  along  the  pathway  of  the 
sun,  but  all  the  stars  as  a  nation  of  divinities, 
or  singly  or  in  clusters,  sjmibolic  respectively  of 
some  natural  phenomenon:  event — real  or  imagi- 
nar}'- — achievement,  characteristic  feature  of  man, 
or    peculiar    property    of    animal    of    lower    order. 

Thus,  illustrative  of  watchfulness,  that  beau- 
tiful star,  Sirius,  the  Barker,  was  the  watch  dog — 
dog  star  of  the  Egj^ptians,  and,  rising  apparently 
near  the  head  of  the  Nile,  warned  them  of  the 
danger   of  the    inundation    of   that   river. 

The  whimsical  worship  of  the  stars,  propa- 
gated by  various  means,  overspread  the  entire 
world.  Not  only  was  astrology  a  religion,  a 
matter  of  faith,  but  it  embraced  whatever  was 
known  of  science  and  learning,  which,  though 
faulty  and  complex,  contained  much  of  worth. 
The  system,  though  retaining  long  its  main 
features,  was  somewhat  mutilated  in  different 
countries,  each  engrafting  it  with  some  peculiarity 
or  conception  of  its  own.  Thus  the  scorpion  was 
in  Egypt  primitively  the  chief  of  the  winter 
signs  of  the  Zodiac;  subsequently  in  Persia  it 
was   the    serpent. 


12 

Astrological  fable  represents  that  the  serpent 
beguiled  the  Harvest  Virgin,  and  that  she,  with 
a  branch  of  fruit  held  out  to  the  herdsman 
Bootes,  tempted  him  to  partake;  and  that  Perseus, 
with  sword  in  hand,  rising  heliacally  in  the  east, 
drove  them  from  the  summer  heaven — the  garden 
of  fruit  and  flowers — drove  them  below  the  west- 
ern horizon  into  obscurity  and  want  of  winter. 
Savants  holding  the  Hebrew  account  of  the  ex- 
pulsion and  fall  of  Adam  and  Eve  from  the 
Garden  of  Eden  to  be  an  allegory  maintain  that 
it  was  derived  from  the  astrological  fable  of  the 
Harvest   Virgin    and    Bootes. 

Moses  sought  to  establish  the  worship  of  the 
soul  of  the  universe — in  other  words,  the  God 
worshiped  at  Heliopolis,  where  he  was  educated — 
a  God  coming  not  under  the  senses,  thereupon 
not  susceptible  of  being  painted  or  otherwise 
represented  by  art.  He  purposed  that  the  wor- 
ship or  religion  should  be  entirely  free  from 
any  form  of  star-worship.  It  was  a  noble  pur- 
pose, and  has  been  the  cause  of  grand  results. 
But  he  failed  in  his  purpose,  as  is  evidenced  by 
the  "seven  luminaries  or  planets  of  the  great 
candlestick;  the  twelve  stones  or  signs  in  the 
7irim  of  the  high  priest;  the  feast  of  the  two 
equinoxes;  entrances  and  gates  of  the  two  hemis- 
pheres (denoting  summer  and  winter);  the  cere- 
mony of  the  lamb  or  celestial  ram ;  and  even 
the   name   of  Osiris,  Tsour.  Creator." 

At  length  the  Christian  religion  was  estab- 
lished—founded   on    love,    an    attribute   of  the    Su- 


13 

preme  Being,  most  essential  in  his  relations  to 
man,  and  in  the  relations  of  man  to  man.  Its 
chief  maxims  are  love  to  God  and  love  to  man, 
and  "  do  unto  others  as  you  would  they  should 
do  unto  you."  That  these  principles  or  rules 
for  our  guidance  are  the  best  of  all  seems  abso- 
lutely certain;  and  that  their  effect  upon  a  vast 
portion  of  the  human  race  has  been  most  bene- 
ficent seems  no  less  so.  Indeed,  in  the  Evolu- 
tion of  Education  with  respect  to  religion, 
Christianity  has  attained  a  higher  degree  of 
excellence  than  any  other  system  of  worship ; 
but  that  it  is  still  fraught  with  errors,  imposed 
upon  it  by  ancient  myth,  is  quite  obvious.  Its 
votaries  are  too  often  actuated  by  craven,  super- 
stitious fear,  and  dread  of  punishment,  rather 
than  by  that  peerless  principle  of  love  to  God 
and  love  to  their  fellow-men.  To  rectify  these 
errors  is  the  function  of  science.  Unbridled  im- 
agination, for  ages,  peopled  the  heavens  and  earth 
and  the  fictitious  regions  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  with  inimical  monsters.  These  goblins 
science  has  vanished  from  the  heavens,  and  is 
banishing  them  from  the  earth,  and  from  the 
fictitious   regions    within   the    earth. 

Turning  now  to  Greece  in  our  inquiry  with 
respect  to  the  Evolution  of  Education,  we  learn 
from  tradition,  also  from  subsequent  history  at 
its  dawn,  that  the  country  was  in  a  semi-barba- 
rous state.  The  Trojan  war,  so  masterly  described 
by    Homer's    Iliad,    is    conjectured   to   have   termi- 


14 

nated  nearly  1200  years  before  the  Christian  era. 
From  that  epoch  down  occurred  a  mythical  period 
of  four  hundred  years.  During  that  period  gods 
and  goddesses,  celestial,  terrestrial  and  infernal 
demigods  and  goddesses,  heroes  and  heroines,  men 
and  women,  seem  to  have  been  on  terms  among 
themselves  of  approximate  equality,  at  least  of 
great    familiarity. 

The  authentic  histor}^  of  Greece  began  B.  C. 
776.  At  that  epoch  the  inhabitants  consisted 
chiefly  of  tribes — the  Pelasgians,  signifjdng  swai'thy 
Asiatics,  dark-faced  men,  and  Hellenes,  signifying 
zuarriors.  From  the  union  of  the  Pelasgians  and 
Hellenes  was  developed  a  nation  more  distin- 
guished for  genius,  grand  achievements,  learning 
and  refinement,  than  any  other  nation  of  antiquity. 

Herodotus  informs  us  that  "  the  Greeks  owed 
their  greatness  to  a  coalition  with  the  Pelasgians." 
The  Pelasgians  evidently  greatly  outnumbered 
the  Hellenes  in  early  times,  as  we  learn  that 
they  spread,  not  only  over  the  Grecian  peninsula, 
but  the  Italian,  and  that  their  language  formed 
the  basis  of  the  Latin  as  well  as  of  the  Greek. 
They  had  a  greater  numerical  strength;  but  the 
Hellenes  braver,  more  intellectual  and  enterpris- 
ing, became  dominant,  and,  to  a  large  extent, 
Hellenized    Greece. 

The  Eg3'ptian  priests  aver  that  the  civiliza- 
tion, arts  and  religion  of  the  Greeks  were  all 
derived  from  Egypt.  This  claim,  though  accepted 
as    true    by    some    historians,  seems   not  warranted 


15 

by  facts.  Thus  Jove,  tlie  great  divinity  of  both 
the  Pelasgians  and  Hellenes,  was  essentially 
Greek.  His  most  ancient  seat  of  worship  was 
Dodona,  in  Kpirus.  Homer  calls  Dodonean  Jove 
Pelasgic,  denoting  an  Asiatic  origin  and  not 
Egyptian.  As  the  Hellenes  became  more  domi- 
nant, the  chief  seat  of  Jovian  worship  was  trans- 
ferred from    Dodona   to   Mount   Olympus. 

Mount  Ida,  in  the  Island  of  Crete,  was,  in 
most  ancient  times,  said  to  be  the  birthplace  of 
Jove,  or  Zeus,  as  he  was  called  in  Greek.  This 
indicates  that  the  Greeks  themselves  did  not 
regard  the  Jovian  religion  of  Egyptian  origin. 
The  absence  of  Egyptian  monuments  in  Greece 
bears  strong  evidence  against  the  claim  of  the 
Egyptian  priests.  True,  monuments  of  pyramidal 
form  were  early  found  in  Greece,  but  such  form 
was  not  necessarily  derived  from  Egypt,  since 
it  obtains  also  in  other  countries,  as  India, 
Babylonia,  etc.  The  architecture  of  Greece  was  es- 
sentially different  from  that  of  Egypt.  The  char- 
acteristics of  Egyptian  architecture  were  strength, 
simplicity  and  perpetuity ^  while  those  of  Greece 
were  perfect  proportions^  symmetry  and  beauty. 
In  the  structure  of  nearly  all  the  most  noted 
Grecian  temples,  the  Doric  columns  were  em- 
ployed. These,  involving  the  curves  of  conic 
sections,  nowhere  found  in  Egyptian  architecture, 
were  faultless.  Each  longitudinal  line  of  the 
column  is  a  curve  so  proportioned  as  to  seem 
straight    to    the   eye    of    the    beholder    at   any  and 


i6 

everj'  point  of  view.  This  fact  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  verifying  by  critical  tests  by  measurement 
and  observation  of  the  lines  of  the  columns  of 
the    Parthenon    on    the    Athenian    Acropolis. 

One  legend  sets  forth  that  Cecrops  of  Sais 
in  Egypt,  bringing  with  him  A^eith^  an  Egyptian 
goddess,  came  to  Attica  B.  C.  1550,  and  occupied 
the  rock  which  subsequently  became  the  citadel 
of  Athens — the  Acropolis;  that  around  this  rock 
a  city  was  built,  first  called  Cecropia,  from  its 
founder  Cecrops,  and  that  the  name  of  the  god- 
dess N^eith  was  changed  to  that  of  Athence.  If 
there  be  a  color  of  truth  in  this  legend,  noth- 
ing remains — neither  monument  nor  authentic 
word    to    indicate   it. 

Philology  shows  the  Greek  language  to  have 
been  Indo-Germanic  in  character,  and  to  have 
been  composed  of  two  elements — Pelasgic  and 
Hellenic;  and  that,  by  purely  Grecian  culture  of 
these,  the  Greek  language,  especially  at  Attica, 
attained  the  highest  degree  of  perfection  of  any 
language  in  the  world.  It  far  surpassed  the 
Egyptian  in  that,  in  writing,  it  employed  an  al- 
phabet consisting  of  simple  characters,  by  whose 
combinations  into  words,  sentences  and  discourse 
every  phase  of  thought,  however  profound,  com- 
plex, delicate,  sublime  and  subtle,  was  clearly 
and  fully  expressed  with  facility;  whereas,  the 
Egyptian  written  language,  consisting  of  hiero- 
glyphics elaborated  from  picture-writing,  was 
clumsy,    limited,     inflexible,     obscure,    burdensome 


17 

to  writer  and  reader,  and  ill-adapted  to  the  use 
of  the  public.  Myth  attributes  to  Cadmus  of 
Phoenicia  the  introduction  into  Greece  of  an 
alphabet  of  sixteen  letters,  to  which  the  Greeks 
subsequently  added  eight  more.  Investigation, 
however,  fails  to  find  a  trace  of  anything  Phoeni- 
cian in  the  language,  art  and  literature  of  Greece. 
In  fact,  whence  and  when  the  Greeks  first  em- 
ployed alphabetical  characters  to  communicate 
thought  is  unknown.  Certain  it  is,  however,  that 
by  their  use  Greece  largely  achieved  her  great- 
ness and  that  by  their  use  her  fame  for  greatness 
has    spread    world-wide. 

In  general  it  is  to  be  truly  said  that  no  more 
important  invention  was  ever  made  than  that  of 
alphabetical  characters.  They  stimulated  learn- 
ing, and  rendered  possible  the  efforts  of  those 
whose  works,  as  beacon  lights,  have  illumed  suc- 
ceeding ages,  ennobled  the  mind  by  their  intrinsic 
merit,  and  by  inciting  in  it  a  spirit  of  emulating 
their  effulgent  splendors.  But  for  the  invention 
of  letters  as  a  means  of  transmitting  intelligence, 
posterity  would  evidently  have  known  but  little 
of  the  achievements  of  the  eminent  historians, 
poets,  orators,  scholars,  warriors,  philosophers, 
rulers    and    statesmen. 

The  facts  accumulated  by  the  extensive  re- 
search and  travel  of  Herodotus,  the  "  Father  of 
History,"  would  have  been  unrecorded.  The 
songs  sung  by  Homer  would  have  little  more 
than  survived  their  echo.     The    effects  of  the  elo- 


i8 

quence  of  Demosthenes,  that  roused  the  Athe- 
nians to  battle  the  mighty  hosts  of  Macedon, 
would  have  been  ephemeral.  The  lessons  of 
Plato,  Aristotle  and  Socrates,  that  down  the 
course  of  time  have  so  largely  shaped  the  des- 
tinies of  the  world,  would,  at  best,  have  long 
since  been  rendered  meaningless  by  distorted 
and    confused    tradition. 

Thought,  however,  necessarily  precedes  its 
expression,  and  is  developed  in  accord  with  its 
environment.  The  Greeks,  especially  the  Hel- 
lenic portion,  had  evidently  lion  courage,  intellect 
in  general,  quick,  acute,  and  in  many  instances 
profound,  and  exquisite  esthetic  taste.  These 
properties  of  the  mind  may  have  been  in  part 
due  to  native  endowment,  but  it  is  to  be  appre- 
hended that  they  largely  resulted  from  impres- 
sions made  upon  it,  or  inwrought  in  it,  by  the 
features  of  the  country.  The  lofty  and  craggy 
mountains  of  a  rich  silvery  color,  the  sea  pene- 
trating here  and  there  far  inland,  as  gulfs,  bays, 
and  inlets,  and  forming  numerous  peninsulas  with 
bold  promontories,  the  extensive  and  rugged 
shore,  the  pellucid  air  and  genial  climate,  con- 
stitute a  perfect  poem.  With  it  the  character- 
istics and  education  of  the  Greeks  were  in  union. 
The  heroic  of  it  was  pronounced  in  almost  con- 
tinuous warfare,  and  was  especially  emphasized 
at  Thermopylae,  Salaniis,  Alarathon  and  Platsea, 
wliile  the  more  refined  and  ennobling  was  pro- 
nounced  by   the   genius   of  the   arts,  sciences    and 


19 

literature.  The  sciences,  embracing  pHlosopliy, 
rhetoric  and  mathematics,  were  subdivided  thus: 
philosophy  into  logic,  ethics  and  physics;  rhetoric 
into  the  demonstrative,  deliberate  and  judicial; 
mathematics  into  music,  geometry  and  arithmetic. 
In  the  development  of  these  the  Greek  mind 
turned  more  to  the  metaphysical  and  to  the 
ideal  of  beauty  in  their  various  departments 
than     to    the    physical    and    exact. 

Pythagoras,  for  example,  esteemed  one  of  the 
ablest  of  the  Greek  mathematicians,  is  said  to  have 
sacrificed  a  hundred  head  of  oxen  in  celebrating 
his  wondrous  feat  of  crossing  the  pons  asinoi^tim — 
a  bridge  which  ingenuous  youth  troop  over  with 
facility.  The  solution  of  the  problem  of  specific 
gravity  was  unattained  by  the  Greek  physicists, 
and  was  not  effected  till  the  glory  of  Greece  had 
departed.  Nor  do  the  Greeks  seem  to  have  made 
any  considerable  advancement  in  the  theory  of 
mechanics,  in  geology,  chemistry,  and  astronomy. 
In  the  art  of  communicating  thought,  both  by 
speech  and  by  pen,  they  attained  a  high  degree 
of  perfection.  Demosthenes  heads  the  list  of  the 
great  orators  of  the  world,  ^^schines,  a  Grecian 
orator  of  extraordinary  eloquence,  when  a  distin- 
guished critic,  on  having  heard  him  read  his 
oration  on  the  crown,  expressed  his  surprise  that 
the  judges  had  decided  against  him,  is  said  to 
have  replied,  "  You  should  have  heard  Demos- 
thenes.'''' Facts,  however,  seem  to  show  that  the 
Greeks  excelled  most  in  temple-architecture,  sculp- 


20 

ture  and  painting.  Of  the  many  classic  works 
of  the  scnlptor's  art,  those  of  the  decorations  of 
the  Parthenon,  the  statues  of  Athense  and  Olym- 
pian Jove,  executed  by  Phidias,  are  the  master- 
pieces of  all  time;  that  of  Olympian  Jove  was 
esteemed  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world.  The 
poetic  imagination  of  the  Greek  was  wont  to  aver: 
that  the  artist  by  his  brush  lured  the  bee  to  seek 
honey  from  the  painted  flower;  that  the  sculptor 
b\'  his  chisel  warmed  the  marble  into  life,  and 
that  tlie  musician  by  his  sweet  music  charmed 
not  only  men  and  beasts,  but  trees,  and  the  very 
stones  themselves,  to  follow  and  dance  together 
in    his    path. 

The  politics  of  Greece  were  essentially  demo- 
cratic, irregular  as  her  surface,  and  fickle  as  the 
winds  that  sweep  over  it.  But  Grecian  politics 
contained,  nevertheless,  the  germs  of  freedom — 
the  birthright  of  man;  and  to  them,  cultured 
by  experience,  the  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment, wherever  on  earth  it  exists,  is  largely  due. 
The  jurisprudence  of  Greece,  modified  by  the 
Romans — perhaps  improved  by  them — still  obtains 
largely  throughout  the  civilized  world.  Greece, 
though  much  stained  with  wrongdoing,  has  been 
a  great  benefactor  to  mankind.  Beginning,  as 
wc  beliold  her,  in  semi-barbarism,  she  by  her 
owii  energies,  gradually  rose,  in  her  evolution  of 
education,  to  the  loftiest  summit  of  intellectual 
greatness  and  refinement  of  any  nation  of  an- 
tiquity. She  is  justly  termed  "the  mother  of 
refinement,  the  nurse  of  literature,  and  the  foun- 
der   of    P:uropeau    civilization."     And    let    us    not 


21 

forget  to  say  that  by  her  means  the  Alexandrian 
Library  was  established,  by  far  the  grandest 
achievement  of  her  pupil^  Alexander  the  Great — 
an  achievement  whose  effulgence  has  illumed  the 
pathway  of  time  down  the  ages,  and  still  illumes 
the  world  of  thought.  But  for  the  Alexandrian 
Library,  Greek  learning  would  have  been  forever 
lost  to  the  world,  and  the  crystal  streams  of 
science  that  have  so  enriched  and  ennobled  the 
intellect  of  succeeding  ages  would  have  been 
fountainless  but  for  the  Graeco-Alexandrian  school. 
It  is  a  sad  comment  upon  Christendom,  that, 
for  the  treasures  which  have  come  down  to  us 
from  the  Alexandrian  school,  we  are  indebted 
to  the  Moslems.  Among  the  works  so  preserved, 
suffice  it  to  mention  Euclid's  Elements  of  Geom- 
etry, and  the  Philosophy  and  Higher  Geometry 
of  Archimedes.  These  works  were  most  efi&cient 
in  the  revival  of  mathematics  and  philosophy 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  and  in  the  progress 
thence  on  of  those  sciences.  Algebra  was  greatly 
enlarged  in  its  scope,  and  enriched  by  numer- 
ous contributions.  Of  these,  without  detraction 
from  any,  let  mention  be  made  of  Vieta,  who 
introduced  symbols  to  represent  quantities,  em- 
ployed signs,  respectively  expressive  of  addition, 
subtraction,  multiplication,  divisions,  powers,  ex- 
traction of  roots,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
general  theory  of  equations.  In  the  progress  of 
that  great  intellectual  development,  the  Arabic 
system  of  nine  digits  and  nought  was  introduced 
and  applied — an  invention  nearly  as  invaluable 
as  that  of  the  alphabet  itself.     The    art  of  print- 


22 


ing,  invented  in  Europe  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
has  proved  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  ever 
conferred  by  genius  upon  the  world  in  its  prog- 
ress   of  learning   and    civilization. 

Descartes  invented  the  system  of  represent- 
ing all  the  parts  of  a  geometrical  figure  by  a 
single  equation.  The  analytic  system  thus  in- 
vented is  far  more  simple  and  extensive  in  its 
scope  than  the  synthetic  employed  by  the  ancient 
geometricians.  It  is  an  indispensable  factor  in 
the  investigation  of  the  laws  and  phenomena  of 
nature.  Napier  discovered  hyperbolic  logarithms, 
whose  use  cannot  well  be  dispensed  with  in 
some  of  the  higher  branches  of  analysis.  Briggs' 
system  of  logarithms  —  known  as  the  common 
system — was  brought  forth  soon  after  the  pub- 
lication   of  Napier's. 

Trigonometry  was  wrought  out  and  tables 
computed,  expressing  the  relations  of  its  functions 
among  themselves.  The  perfection  of  spherical 
trigonometry  was  effected  by  the  contributions  to 
it  of  rules  invented  by  Napier  for  the  solution 
of  all  the  cases  of  right-angled  triangles,  and  of 
his  demonstrated  analogies.  Newton  discovered 
fluxions,  and  Leibnitz  the  differential  and  integral 
calculus  about  the  same  time.  The  principles  of 
fluxions  are  essentially  identical  with  those  of 
the  calculus.  The  discovery  by  whatever  name 
known,  is  pronounced,  by  those  competent  to 
judge,  to  be  the  greatest,  most  subtle  and  sub- 
lime   ever   made    by    human    i^enius. 

Its     scope,     however,     was      greatly     expanded 
by     Lagrange's    Calculus    of    Variations,     and    by 


23 

Laplace's  Coefficients,  from  which  has  arisen 
spherical  harmonic  analysis.  Thus  in  brief  was 
evolved  the  life,  the  soul,  of  all  science.  Seven- 
teen centuries  had  passed  since  Archimedes  laid 
down  his  great  work  —  the  greatest  known  to 
antiquity.  The  first  to  essay  the  task  of  taking 
it  up  and  carrying  it  forward  was  Leonardo  da 
Vinci.  Referring  to  his  attainments,  Hallam, 
the  historian,  says,  ''His  knowledge  was  almost 
superhuman."  Not  only  did  Da  Vinci  remove 
from  this  masterpiece  of  antiquity  the  mould  of 
time,  causing  it  to  shine  in  its  original  lustre, 
but  augmented  and  adorned  it  with  his  own 
works  equally  lustrous.  He  proceeded  upon 
the  maxim  that  experience  and  observation  are 
necessarily  the  foundation  of  all  reasoning  in 
science;  that  experiment  is  indispensably  requisite 
in  interpreting  nature  aright,  and  in  ascertaining 
her  laws.  He  clearly  demonstrated  the  theory  of 
forces  obliquely  applied  to  a  lever;  was  conversant 
with  the  laws  of  friction  and  the  principle  of 
virtual  velocities;  was  an  adept  in  hydraulics; 
treated  of  ^the  times  of  descent  of  a  body  on 
an  inclined  plane,  and  on  a  circular  arc,  and 
announced  the  hypothesis  of  geology  with  respect 
to  the  elevation  of  continents.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  modern  movement  in  natural 
philosophy.  Subsequently  the  fundamental  prop- 
erty of  the  inclined  plane  was  solved  by  Stevinus, 
and  the  three  laws  of  motion  discovered  by  Gali- 
leo. Galileo  further  rediscovered  the  mechanical 
properties  of  fluids — properties  known  to  the  phil- 
osophers   of   the    Alexandrian    school,    but  entirely 


24 

lost  for  ages  in  Europe.  By  the  establishment  of 
these  laws  of  motion  was  made  the  discovery  of 
the  laws  of  falling  bodies  and  the  discovery  of 
laws  determining  the  resultant  path  and  motion 
of  a  body  impressed  by  forces — constant  or  vari- 
able— applied  to  it  in  different  directions;  also,  by 
their  establishment,  the  principles  of  mechanics 
were  firmly  established,  and  a  preparation  made 
for   their   application    in    astronomy. 

The  ordeal  of  science  as  it  thus  rose  step 
by  step  was  terrible.  Patristic  dogma  decreed 
that  the  earth  was  flat  and  stationary,  and  that 
to  say  it  was  globular,  and  in  motion,  consti- 
tuted a  crime  punishable  with  torture  and  death. 
The  circumnavigation  of  the  earth,  began  under 
the  command  of  Magellan,  and  ended  under  that 
of  his  lieutenant,  Sebastian  d'Elcano,  completely 
refuted  this  dogma  with  respect  to  the  form  of 
the  earth — proved  it  globular.  Though  thus 
refuted  as  to  the  form,  pretentious  dogma  still 
persistently  maintained  that  the  earth  was  motion- 
less, condemned  Galileo  for  publishing  ''that  the 
earth  moves,  that  the  sun  is  stationary,"  and 
compelled  him  to  abjure  and  curse  his  works  as 
heresies  lest  he  should  be  punished  according  to 
the  grim  formula,  "  as  merciful  as  possible  and 
without  the  shedding  of  his  blood,"  as  was  Bruno 
for  a  similar  offense.  As  he  arose  from  his 
knees  he  is  said  to  have  whispered  to  a  friend, 
"  //   does    move^   thoughy 

Copernicus  ventured  to  propound  the  helio- 
centric hypothesis  of  Archimedes,  as  set  forth  in 
liis    work    entitled    Psammites.     He    held   that    the 


25 

earth  and  the  planets  revolved  in  circular  orbits 
about  the  sun;  that  the  earth  had  a  daily  rota- 
tion on  her  axis,  an  annual  motion  round  the 
sun,  and  a  motion  of  declination  of  its  axis. 
His  system,  encumbered  with  the  mechanism  of 
epicycles  and  eccentrics  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  these  motions,  and  due  to  his  misconception  of 
the  true  form  of  the  orbits,  and  of  the  obliquity 
of  the    ecliptic,  was  very  faulty  as  first  published. 

In  the  process  of  development,  the  Coperni- 
can  theory  was  relieved  of  its  errors  with  respect 
to  the  relation  existing  between  the  axis  and 
path  of  the  earth  round  the  sun,  and  with  re- 
spect to  the  form  of  the  orbits  of  the  earth  and 
planets  b}'^  the  application  of  Kepler's  laws, 
which  determined  the  orbit  form  elliptical  instead 
of  circular.  These  laws,  discovered  by  Kepler, 
but  not  substantiated  by  him,  were  demonstrated 
to  be  true  by  Newton  in  his  Principia,  and  to 
result  of  necessity  from  tangential  force  and  the 
force    of  gravitation. 

Without  these  contributions  of  Newton,  the 
Copernican  system  would  have  been  but  a  limp- 
ing speculation.  In  fact  the  Principia  of  the 
Prince,  of  Philosophers  laid  the  foundation  of 
physical  astronomy,  and  effected  much  in  rear- 
ing thereon  one  of  the  noblest  structures  of 
science.  Nothing  seems  simpler  than  the  fall  of 
an  apple.  Millions  of  the  human  family  had 
witnessed  a  like  phenomenon,  but  it  was  left  to 
Newton  to  grasp  the  cause.  This  he  found  to 
be  "the  thread  that  could  guide  him  through 
the   labyrinth    of  the    universe." 


26 

In  the  development  of  the  science  of  astron- 
omy since  the  time  of  Newton,  the  ablest  work 
is  donbtless  Laplace's  Celestial  Mechanics.  It 
presents  a  reasonable  hypothesis  of  the  forma- 
tion of  the  solar  system,  thence  rigidly  solves 
the  various  and  more  important  problems  aris- 
ing from  the  action  of  force  upon  its  several 
parts.  Of  these  let  it  suffice  to  note  that  La- 
place, as  set  forth  in  his  great  work,  determines 
the  cause  of  the  acceleration  of  the  moon's  mean 
motion  to  be  the  influence  of  the  sun  upon 
the  moon,  combined  with  the  secular  variation 
of  the  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit ;  that  this 
secular  irregularity  of  the  motion  of  the  moon 
is  periodical ;  that  millions  of  years  will  be  re- 
quired to  re-establish  its  pristine  motion,  after 
which  the  acceleration  will  become  a  retarda- 
tion. This  rigid  demonstration  proves  false  the 
prophecy  of  terrorists  to  the  end  that  the  more 
rapid  motion  of  the  moon  now  than  formerly 
portends    the    crash    of    worlds — the   end    of   time. 

By  the  use  of  superior  instruments,  the  science 
of  astronomy,  since  the  time  of  Laplace,  has  been 
greatly  improved— planets  unknown  to  him  dis- 
covered, and  the  component  elements  of  sun- 
worlds  determined.  So  that,  in  the  evolution  of 
education,  this  branch  of  science  has  attained  a 
very    high    degree    of  perfection. 

Chemistry  had  its  origin  in  alchemy.  The 
gases  were  at  first  held  to  be  spirits — mostly 
evil — and  were  called  ghosts.  Air  and  earth 
were  supposed  to  be  replete  with  them.  The 
chief     objects    of    alchemy    were    to    gain    control 


27 

of  them,  to  convert  base  metals  into  gold,  and 
to  produce  the  elixir  of  life.  From  a  scientific 
standpoint  the  Saracens  in  the  ninth  century  laid 
the  foundation  of  chemistry  by  the  discovery 
of  nitric  and  sulphuric  acids  and  phosphorus. 
Prior  to  this  time  the  strongest  acid  known 
was   vinegar. 

Djafar,  an  Arabic  chemist,  dissolved  gold 
with  nitric  acid  and  sal  ammoniac.  Thus  "  po- 
table gold"  was  first  obtained;  but  it  was  found 
not  to  be  the  "  elixir  of  life,"  as  had  generally 
been  conceived,  and  for  which  alchemists  had 
so  long  sought.  Djafar  appears  to  have  been 
aware  that  gases  were  not  ghosts  possessed  of 
intelligence,    but   insentient   matter. 

Marcus  Grsecus,  at  the  close  of  the  eighth 
century,  invented  gun  powder,  which,  from  a 
politicial  point  of  view,  has  revolutionized  the 
world.  In  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  per- 
ceived that  the  union  of  bodies  depends  upon 
their  opposite  qualities,  as  witnessed  in  the  be- 
havior of  acids  and  alkalies,  and  their  neutraliza- 
tion. Hence  arose  the  doctrine  of  chemical 
affinity. 

Parcelus  discovered  hydrogen  in  1672.  A 
hundred  years  later  Priestly  discovered  oxygen, 
and  in  1781  Cavendish  determined  the  product 
of  their  combustion  to  be  water.  Water  seems 
to  have  been  first  resolved  into  its  original 
elements — oxygen  and  hydrogen — by  Grove.  The 
artificial  decomposition  of  water  constitutes  an 
epoch   in   chemistry. 


28 

A  train  of  splendid  discoveries  followed.  The 
old  nomenclature,  earth,  air,  fire,  and  water,  was 
discarded,  and  for  which  there  was  substituted 
that  of  sixty  and  upward  elements,  with  their 
equivalents  accurately  determined.  Also  the  laws 
of  combination  of  the  elements,  and  the  laws  of 
the  resolution  of  their  compounds,  were  established. 

Experiment  proved  beyond  cavil  that  mat- 
ter susceptible  of  infinite  change  of  form  is 
indestructible;  that  an  atom  is  an  immortal 
being.  Thus,  a  particle  of  water  rises  from  the 
sea,  floats  in  the  cloud,  falls  in  the  raindrop, 
sinks  into  the  earth,  enters  the  rootlets  of  a 
plant,  rises  in  the  sap  to  the  leaves,  whence 
b}'  sunlight  it  is  resolved  into  its  constituent 
elements,  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  These,  com- 
bining with  other  elements,  form  various  organic 
compounds,  of  which  many  constitute  the  food 
of  animals,  are  digested  within  them,  circulate 
in  their  blood,  support  life,  put  in  operation  the 
faculties  of  intellection,  and  expire  in  breath  to 
reappear  in  the  form  of  its  constituent  elements 
in  the  unending  cj^cles  of  change.  Through  all 
the  mutations  the  particle  of  water  has  under- 
gone, however  widely  its  elements  may  have 
been  separated,  and  however  powerful  the  blows 
dealt  them  may  have  been,  not  an  atom  has  been 
lost.  As  with  the  elements  composing  water, 
so  with  all  the  elements.  Nature  in  her  works 
precludes  both  gain  and  loss  of  matter.  Upon 
this  basis,  firm  as  the  universe  itself,  has  been 
reared,  by  most  skilful  architects,  the  extensive 
and   imposing   structure    of  chemistry. 


29 

The  invention  by  Watt  of  the  steam  engine 
in  the  eighteenth  century  has  revolutionized  the 
industry  of  the  world.  The  engine  ploughs, 
plants,  harvests  and  distributes  the  products. 
It  forges,  fashions  and  finishes  with  masterly 
skill  every  mechanical  device,  from  the  most 
ponderous  to  the  most  complex  and  delicate.  It 
spins  and  weaves.  It  prints  and  publishes. 
From  city  to  city  and  place  to  place  through- 
out the  land,  it  transports,  with  impetuous  speed, 
trains  of  cars  replete  with  passengers,  or  laden 
with  hundreds  of  tons  of  goods.  It  propels 
vast  navies,  also  fleets  of  commerce,  exchanging 
the  products  of  every  clime.  It  lights  our 
streets,  manufactories  and  homes,  as  it  were,  with 
sunlight,  and  sends  forth  messengers  with  light- 
ning speed  to  every  city  and  hamlet  in  the 
land,  and    even   to   those   bej^'ond  the   sea. 

The  most  important  discovery  of  the  present 
century  seems  justly  esteemed  to  be  that  of  the 
correlation  and  conservation  of  forces.  "  The 
law  of  conservation,"  says  Professor  Tyndall, 
"rigidly  excludes  both  creation  and  annihila- 
tion." This  law  applies  to  force  as  well  as  to 
matter.  The  experiments  leading  up  to  this 
grand  discovery  were  made  by  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin and  by  Benjamin  Thompson,  afterwards 
known  as  Count  Rumford — both  Americans  by 
birth  and  education.  Franklin  demonstrated  that 
lightning  is  but  a  case  of  common  electricity, 
and  Thompson  proved  that  heat  is  a  mode 
of  motion^  and  not  a  subtle  fluid  insinuating 
itself    between     the     particles     of     other      matter, 


30 

as  held  by  the  old-school  philosophers.  Subse- 
quent investigation  demonstrated  that  light,  heat, 
electricit}^,  magnetism,  and  chemical  affinity  are 
all  convertible  material  affections.  Taking  either 
as  the  cause,  one  of  the  others  will  be  the 
effect.  Thus  heat  will  produce  electricity  and 
electricity  produce  heat;  magnetism  will  produce 
electricity  and  electricity  produce  magnetism,  and 
so  on  of  the  rest.  Dr.  Joule  a  half  century  ago 
determined  that  heat  requisite  to  raise  the  tem- 
perature of  one  pound  of  water  one  degree  by 
the  Fahrenheit  scale  is  equal  to  the  energy  of  772 
foot-pounds.  Thus  was  established  the  mechanical 
equivalent  of  heat — a  unit  of  most  extensive 
application  in  physics.  By  it  are  measured  all 
forms  of  physical  force,  and,  as  some  experi- 
ments   indicate,    of  even    that    of   mind   itself. 

The  discovery  of  the  X  ray  adds  a  highly 
valuable  trophy  to  science,  by  enabling  us  to 
read  not  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  to  read 
clearly  the  internal  structure  of  bodies  hitherto 
held  to  be  absolutely  opaque.  The  discovery 
has  already  proved  of  great  utility,  and,  did  not 
science  forbid  us  to  assert  more  than  we  know, 
I  should  say  that  the  seed  only  has  been  dis- 
covered, which,  by  proper  culture,  will  yield  a 
hundred-fold    and    upward. 

Charles  De  Kay,  U.  S.  Consul-General  at 
Berlin,  in  his  official  report  to  the  Department 
of  State,  Washington,  D.  C,  states  that  Pro- 
fessor Linde  ot  Munich  has  invented  a  device 
by  which  air  can  be  liquefied  at  a  cost  of  25^ 
cents    for    176    cubic    feet.     Hitherto    the    cost   for 


31 

liquefying  an  equal  quantity  was  $2.25,  or  one 
hundred  times  as  much.  It  is  well  known  that 
liquid  air,  in  passing  back  to  its  normal  state, 
can  be  applied  to  many  industrial  purposes. 
Indeed  scientists  know  not  the  limits  of  its 
usefulness.  Its  high  cost  of  production  has 
hitherto  precluded  its  use  in  practise.  Professor 
Linde's   invention   removes   this   obstacle. 

The  present  is  fraught  with  the  treasures 
of  the  past — with  its  literatures,  its  discoveries, 
its  inventions,  its  theories,  its  arts,  and  its 
sciences.  It  estimates  their  worth,  employs  the 
more  valuable,  adopting  utility  as  its  motto — 
progress  in  producing  in  luxuriant  abundance 
the  necessaries,  comforts  and  luxuries  of  life. 
To  accomplish  this  grand  object,  Agriculture 
more  assiduously  cultivates  and  harvests  her 
broad  fields;  Manufactures  more  zealously  ply 
their  handy-craft  in  producing  all  kinds  of  struc- 
tures, from  the  pin  to  the  locomotive  and  battle- 
ship, from  the  thread  to  the  woven  cloth 
and  finished  garment;  and  commerce  hastens  to 
exchange  the  products  of  every  clime.  Never 
occurred  there  an  age,  since  the  advent  of  man 
on  earth,  so  replete  with  blessings  as  the  pres- 
ent. The  cave-dwellers  fought  with  the  elements, 
and  with  wild  beasts,  for  existence;  the  Egyptians 
piled  up  permanent  structures,  with  a  view  of 
reinhabiting  them  after  an  absence  of  a  thousand 
years  in  an  unknown  world;  the  Greeks  reared 
temples  magnificently  grand  and  exquisitely 
beautiful,  as  habitations  of  their  fictitious  gods. 
Whereas,  the  Genius    of  the    present    age    builds 

30476.'i 


32 

happy  homes,  numerous  as  the  stars  that  smile 
above  them,  builds  school-houses,  academies,  col- 
leges, and  universities,  as  temples  of  substantial 
learning,  so  indispensable  in  the  foundation  and 
structure  of  good  government  and  in  the  ameni- 
ties of  life. 

Such,  in  brief,  has  been  the  evolution  of 
education.  It  has  been  observed  that  science 
understands  facts,  and  that  art  uses  them;  but, 
to  appl}'  them  properly,  art  must  understand 
them  too,  and  therefore  is  the  science  of  use. 
Contemplating  the  evolution  of  education,  the 
mind,  unbidden,  exclaims.  Science,  O  beautiful 
science!  how  delicately  frail  thy  youth;  how  oft 
wast  thou  prostrated  in  the  dust  by  that  monster 
ignorance — but  as  often  rose  and  grew  in 
goodly  proportions,  till  now  the  nadir  is  thy 
footstool,  the  zenith  thy  diadem,  and  systems  of 
rolling  worlds  thy  toys !  Naught  too  minute, 
naught  too  sublime,  for  thy  inspection.  Suns, 
systems  of  suns,  and  worlds,  are  in  thy  ken, 
and   the    star-dust   in    thy    grasp. 

Irving  M.  Scott. 
May  21,  1897. 


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